In announcing Kotb’s appointment to the co-anchor job on Tuesday’s edition of “Today,” Guthrie told viewers: “This has to be the most popular decision that NBC News has ever made.”

Kotb, 53, had temporarily filled in behind the anchor desk of NBC’s morning news show following Matt Lauer’s notorious dismissal in the wake of a complaint by a female colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior.

NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack said Kotb “seamlessly stepped” into the post, and with Guthrie, “quickly hit the ground running.”

Kotb, who has co-hosted the fourth hour of the show with Kathie Lee Gifford since 2008, will continue to do so.

Sadly, the new pair — two female co-anchors in national broadcast — remains a rarity. (It did happen when Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts co-anchored ABC’s “Good Morning America” from 2006-09.)

Kotb told Us Weekly that Lauer texted her with “congratulations and some really nice words.”
LOGAN PAUL’S SORRY

It took too long, but YouTube sensation Logan Paul finally apologized after his video showing him and friends joking near a dead body in Japan’s so-called “suicide forest” went viral, prompting extensive backlash.

Paul, 22, said he had made a “huge mistake” and deleted the video, which was titled “We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest,” but not before it got 6 million views; scarily, the video blogger’s channel has some 15 million subscribers.

Paul said the original video showed a “raw and unfiltered” reaction to the situation; when he took it down, he said it shouldn’t have been posted or even filmed, but explained, “One may understand that it’s easy to get caught up in the moment without fully weighing the possible ramifications.”

The footage was shot in Aokigahara, a sprawling forest near the base of Mount Fuji, a place where people are known to go to commit suicide. (Matthew McConaughey and Ken Watanabe starred in a movie by Gus Van Sant about it, called “The Sea of Trees,” which was released in 2016.)
COACHELLA LINEUP

The Coachella 2018 roster is just in: The Weeknd headlines Fridays (April 13 and April 20); Beyoncé on Saturdays (April 14 and April 21) and Eminem on Sundays (April 15 and 22). Others acts include SZA, HAIM, Kygo, Jamiroquai, Tyler the Creator, Post Malone, Portugal the Man, ODESZA, Migos, Cardi B, and St. Vincent.

Produced by Goldenvoice, the 19th annual concert takes place at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.